North Port lowers code enforcement fines

Scores of unresolved code enforcement cases may get taken off North Port's books because the penalties imposed against the homeowners will be substantially reduced.

On Monday, the City Commission lowered fines in all unsettled code enforcement cases prior to the adoption of reforms in 2010. In doing so, the city may finally have closed a chapter in which critics say North Port piled on struggling residents when they were already hurting.

In one example, North Port started levying fines against resident Diane Pearson in 2006 because a car in her driveway did not have a license plate. Pearson donated the car to a church. But even after the car was gone, the unpaid penalties kept mounting for the next two years at $50 a day. In 2010, the single mother took her case to court with an attorney who worked for free. A judge later reduced the fine to $2,500. North Port agreed to settle the case without collecting any money from Pearson, including the $22,000 it spent on attorney's fees to sue her.